Thursday, 7 February 2013

Nigeria has become a country largely without a sense of history. This has been compounded by the very fact that history is no longer fit subject for young Nigerians to learn in schools to stimulate their intellect in knowing or discovering who they are and where they are coming from, so says Nigeria government. And as legendary Chinua Achebe succinctly puts it, ‘a people who do not know where the rain started beating them will not know where it stopped beating them’. The result is that of a country fast becoming ahistoric, with the attendant inability to chart a proper path towards the sun, like plants yearning for sunlight to grow into fruitfulness.

But a new book modelled after the powerpoint module, 500 Hundred Remarkable Events in Nigeria’s History 1960 – 2010: A Chronicle (Janiobooks Ltd, Lagos; 2012) and written by Cyprian Enwefah will serve as a quick reference material to fill in the missing gaps so visible in Nigeria’s historical education both among the old and the young. Enwefah has seemingly drawn his experience from the fast-growing tragedy of a nation that has lost its sense of history to provide in powerpoint format landmark events in Nigeria’s history. He is also aware that Nigerians have not only become ahistorical, but that they are averse to reading large doses of materials hence his inescapable anecdotal approach – snippets of information and facts with dates but without the usual baggage of explanations and analyses.

This makes his approach very special and in a class of its own. In just six pages, he provides ‘A Brief History of Nigeria’ so that the young or unfamiliar reader gets a sense of what happened before independence and sums up the historical trajectory into the future. Enwefah is a master of the succinct, who has compressed vast historical materials into brief notes for easy assimilation. He also gives a brief profile of Nigeria’s principal political/military actors that have impacted on the life of the country. This background information prepares the reader for what he encounters about the particular leader and what he/she does. There are also rare photographs too, to titillate the reader; photographs of leaders to jog the memory into wakefulness.

Apart from the landmark events he has so briefly knocked together for breezy understanding and assimilation, Enwefah also provides other very useful and rare materials that even informed history students may only have heard or read about but not in full detail: the broadcasts all the leaders who have ruled Nigeria ever made! This is rare; this is vintage dossier, archival material ever unearthed; archival materials that Nigeria does not have a good record of keeping except you went outside its shores. But Enwefah has treated his readers to these rare documents.

So from October 1, 1960, Enwefah starts narrating Nigeria’s historical Odesey, with the Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa standing alongside Queen Elizabeth’s representative, Princess Alexandra of Kent as the Union Jack is lowered forever and Nigeria’s flag is hoisted up at Tafawa Balewa Square at Onikan, Lagos. Balewa’s acceptance speech is reproduced. On hindsight, one cannot escape the irony laced in the Balewa’s proclamation, ‘But now, we have acquired our rightful status, and I feel sure that history will show that the building of our nation proceeded at the wisest pace: it has been thorough, and Nigeria now stands well-built upon firm foundations’.

In less than two years, that ‘firm foundation’ began to witness signs of weakness. By the sixth year, Balewa had been killed in the first military coup to usher in the bloodiest civil war Africa ever saw. Over 50 years on that ‘firm foundation’ is still rickety and in dire need of being recast, for a new Nigeria to emerge from the ashes of that bloody conflict and the contradictions it further gave birth to.

Also reproduced is Gen. Thomas Aguyi-Ironsi’s now infamous unitary system of government speech that ultimately led to his death, when he sought vainly to pull the country from the brink the five infamous Majors had precipitated the country into by staging a coup. LT. Col. Yakubu Gowon takes over the saddle of leadership of a new nation floundering on uncertain waters, thus pitting him against his nemesis, LT. Col. Chukwuemeka Ojukwu. Particularly rare among the speeches reproduced in this concise book is Ojukwu’s revolutionary speech to the people of Biafra six months before the war ended. Indeed, it’s a speech every Nigerian in danger of being thrust in leadership position would do well to study and take a cue, as Ojukwu problematizes the situation of the black man, which has changed very little since 1969 when he famously made it to galvanise Nd’Igbo to their historic destiny as a leading race amongst men.

Ojukwu’s 38-paged teatise or ideologue that laid the ground-norm for the revolutionary struggle of Biafra is vintage African true nationalism. Indeed it’s a speech every young Nigerian should study, as it provides a manual for pushing the country beyond the boundary of ineptitude, corruption, tribal cleavages and other obnoxious, self-serving interests that hold the country hostage from moving forward. Ojukwu saw well ahead of his time. Nigerian leaders should read the speech and seek out the technology a war-weary, war-pressed Biafrans produced to defend themselves against the formidable foe that Nigeria was. Indeed, questions should be asked: what happened to the technology Biafrans produced while the war lasted for 30 long months? Why did Nigeria allow the technology produced in Biafra to go to waste after the war? Why was the technology not harnessed as part of Gowon’s reintegration, rehabilitating and reconstructing mantra?

Suffice to say that Nigeria’s inability to harness the local technology Biafra produced during the war has been at the root of the country’s industrial backwardness!

Gowon’s tame ‘no victor, no vanquish’ speech is also reproduced for the reader’s benefit. So, too, are other speeches and major events, culminating in President Goodluck Jonathan’s speech on Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary in 2010.

Indeed, Enwefah’s 500 Hundred Remarkable Events in Nigeria’s History 1960 – 2010: A Chronicle is a delightful book to read for its sheer archival resource materials that can be glimpsed at a glance. Everyone interested in Nigeria’s history will find this book delightful companion and a treasure trove.

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Not many parents give their children opportunity to be
what they want to become. A lot meddle in the career of their children; some
meddle to the point of imposition, with the result that frustration often
becomes the lot of such children. But not so with the 2012 winner of The
Nigerian Prize for Literature, Chika Unigwe, who won with On Black Sisters’
Street. It’s a work that deals with the obnoxious sex trade as seen from the
perspectives of African women trafficked to Europe for prostitution
purposes.

At the
public presentation on Tuesday
at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, where she studied English,
Unigwe gave validity to young people being given a choice to make intelligent
career choices. Unigwe’s choice of study of English has paid off with US$100,000
firmly in her pocket, as the proud winner of Africa’s biggest literary
prize.

In her
submission, Unigwe told the gathering of academics, politicians, students and
industry captain audience gathered to honour her, “One year, I must have been
about 10, I told my father I wanted to write a book. As far as I was concerned,
writing a book meant typing out all the stories and poems I had collected in my
journal myself. He did not laugh at me. He went and sourced a typewriter for me,
and it is only in hindsight that I appreciate the lengths to which he went to
get that machine….

“I
remember my parents’ praise of my handwork. They were my first audience, they
nurtured my belief. They gave me the gift of faith. They gave me permission to
dream. They led me on the road to discovering the magic of words and claiming
them as mine. For this and for so much more, I am grateful!”

Unigwe
further gave insight to believing in self as first condition to success, saying,
“Winning this prize has taught me that wishes come true. That sometimes when we
speak our wishes into the world, they become real”.

Regrettably Unigwe is not happy that the quality of education Nigeria now
offers her young ones is far from standard, far from what she got while growing
up. This lament she put in the form of appeal to authorities to do something
urgent to redress in practical terms, especially as quality education is a
gateway for opportunities that take young people’s minds from wanting to go into
prostitution like characters in her novel, On Black Sisters’
Street.

As she
noted, “… In the years to come quality education for every Nigerian child should
be a reality. That each school is equipped with a functional library; that many
more of our young women do not end up like the women of On Black Sisters’
Street, forced by lack of opportunities to spend years indebted to pimps,
servicing the sex industry often under very precarious conditions”.

Managing Director of sponsor of the prize, LNG, Mr. Babs Omotowa, praised
Unigwe for winning the prize, saying her victory has earned a deserved place in
Nigerian and African literary space. He said Unigwe has joined the growing list
of laureates such as Gabriel Okara, Ezenwa Ohaeto, Ahmed Yerima, Akachi
Adimora-Ezeigbo,Mabel Segun, Kaine Agary, Esiaba Irobi and Adeyemi Adleke (Mai
Nasara). Omotowa further said Nigeria needed to fall back on her writers and
thinkers so as to lift itself from the morass it found itself
today.

He also noted, “The
prize helps to gradually build a crop of distinguished individuals in whom our
young ones can look up to. it provides the intellectual occupation with the
respect, dignity, even reverence, that it should have. In this regard, many are
convinced that it is the preponderance of thinking citizens that will bring us
to that lofty place where people can ask burning questions of their leaders and
demand urgent answers because they are informed.

“Literacy and numeracy skills are the bedrock of progress and prosperity
in the modern world. The skill of writing helps create a context in which other
people can think… Because of the deep morass Nigeria is in we cannot possibly
get enough of innovative thinkers, writers, philosophers, men and women who
expand the frontiers of knowledge by the sheer depth and range of the questions
and issues that raise. They may not, and indeed do not always, proffer the
solutions, but the questions they raise by their reflections on life, force us
to think a little deeper and point us in the directions where we may not
necessarily have looked.”

On his
part, Anambra State governor Mr. Peter Obi restated the need for Nigeria to
celebrate her intellectual stars in all fields of human endeavours so as to make
the country proud. He said rather than the lunatics that continue to bring the
nation shame that deserve to be placed in asylum, Nigerian stars in the field of
literature, science and other ennobling areas should be singled out and
celebrated for the greater glory of the country and for others to
emulate.

Obi
said celebrating Unigwe’s win amounted to celebrating the unique process of
excellence that the country badly desired but which has long eluded her as a
nation, but which path she must return at once if the country was to achieve any
meaningful development in the foreseeable future. According to Obi, “We are here
to celebrate a process we desire for our country. Chika is that destination we
wish for this country. I’ve told Chika, we’ll work with her to bring about many
Chikas. People like Chika are not known or celebrated today in Nigeria. Today we
celebrate rascality in Nigeria.

“But
we’re looking for people to celebrate. We need to start celebrating the Chikas
of this country. We need to start celebrating our stars. We must get the
lunatics to the asylum”.

Obi
also praised the foremost gas company for establishing the literature and
science prizes and called them beacons for what Nigeria should aspire to be. He
commended Unigwe for also writing a book that has documented things that could
change lives for the better.

The
Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics Prof Isaac Asuzu, who represented the Vice
Chancellor, Prof. Bartho N. Okolo expressed how pleased he was “to celebrate
success, to celebrate achievement, to celebrate art, to celebrate Chika Unigwe.
Success necessarily has many friends. And so, we are gathered here today as
friends of success. But success also has the capacity to inspire. Without a
doubt, many of our students, particularly the female students, have every reason
to be inspired today. Hard work pays. Hard work and excellence are not the
exclusive preserve of one gender only… If Chika Unigwe had believed that this is
a man’s world and that her say or her effort would not matter, she wouldn’t have
been here today as the winner of The Nigerian Prize for Literature for
2012”.

MANY other
individuals spoke glowingly of Unigwe’s win and for the support and leverage the
gas company LNG has provided literary art and sued for more such
support.Chairman, Advisory Board for the prize, Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo the
theme of Unigwe’s novel has great social relevance, with a superb narrative
technique and rich trove of English language. He also said the choice of Nsukka
to honour Unigwe was deliberate as one of the runners-up, Ngozi Achebe is also
alumnus of University of Nigeria like Unigwe. He expressed gratitude to LNG for
the nation of this honour in promoting a process that would spur the desire to
create, innovate on writing and creativity in literature and
science.

Former
Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji also praised Unigwe and the gas company for
doing Nigeria proud by supporting science and literature as ways of developing
the human capital. Head of English Department, Prof. Nicholas Akwanya said
Unigwe was a strong person, saying it wasn’t easy to live in another country and
see one’s countrywomen being traded in sex and not feel ashamed. But that Unigwe
rose above that sentiment and wrote about it in an admirable way that has earned
her accolades.

Akwanya restated a need for the restructuring of the nation’s education
in giving equal value to all disciplines rather than paying attention to science
and technology only because development was a multifaceted process. He praised
LNG for recognising that the arts were important and also deserved attention
through support such the prize. He advocated the setting up of a Centre for
Creative Writing in Nsukka, saying it wasn’t what a department alone could do.
He urged LNG to help the setting up of such centre.

Unigwe’s father, 83, Ochaagha Fred Unigwe, who said how proud he was,
thanked LNG for honouring her daughter; her husband for allowing her to write.
He made Chika out as a gift to the world. Ungwe’s husband, Jan Vandenhoudt, a
Belgian, was full of gratitude for the honour done his wife, and how he met her
in Nsukka campus and fell in love.

Ezigbo
and Nollywood actor Joke Silver also spoke of glowingly of Unigwe. As UN
Ambassador for Trafficking in Persons, Silver expressed gratitude for Unigwe’s
novel in helping to advance her work and hinted the possibility of making it
into a film.

Omotowa made a gift of Unigwe’s book to 36 secondary school students of
the university in attendance and another 14 for the school library.

Not many parents give their children opportunity to be
what they want to become. A lot meddle in the career of their children; some
meddle to the point of imposition, with the result that frustration often
becomes the lot of such children. But not so with the 2012 winner of The
Nigerian Prize for Literature, Chika Unigwe, who won with On Black Sisters’
Street. It’s a work that deals with the obnoxious sex trade as seen from the
perspectives of African women trafficked to Europe for prostitution
purposes.

At the
public presentation on Tuesday
at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, where she studied English,
Unigwe gave validity to young people being given a choice to make intelligent
career choices. Unigwe’s choice of study of English has paid off with US$100,000
firmly in her pocket, as the proud winner of Africa’s biggest literary
prize.

In her
submission, Unigwe told the gathering of academics, politicians, students and
industry captain audience gathered to honour her, “One year, I must have been
about 10, I told my father I wanted to write a book. As far as I was concerned,
writing a book meant typing out all the stories and poems I had collected in my
journal myself. He did not laugh at me. He went and sourced a typewriter for me,
and it is only in hindsight that I appreciate the lengths to which he went to
get that machine….

“I
remember my parents’ praise of my handwork. They were my first audience, they
nurtured my belief. They gave me the gift of faith. They gave me permission to
dream. They led me on the road to discovering the magic of words and claiming
them as mine. For this and for so much more, I am grateful!”

Unigwe
further gave insight to believing in self as first condition to success, saying,
“Winning this prize has taught me that wishes come true. That sometimes when we
speak our wishes into the world, they become real”.

Regrettably Unigwe is not happy that the quality of education Nigeria now
offers her young ones is far from standard, far from what she got while growing
up. This lament she put in the form of appeal to authorities to do something
urgent to redress in practical terms, especially as quality education is a
gateway for opportunities that take young people’s minds from wanting to go into
prostitution like characters in her novel, On Black Sisters’
Street.

As she
noted, “… In the years to come quality education for every Nigerian child should
be a reality. That each school is equipped with a functional library; that many
more of our young women do not end up like the women of On Black Sisters’
Street, forced by lack of opportunities to spend years indebted to pimps,
servicing the sex industry often under very precarious conditions”.

Managing Director of sponsor of the prize, LNG, Mr. Babs Omotowa, praised
Unigwe for winning the prize, saying her victory has earned a deserved place in
Nigerian and African literary space. He said Unigwe has joined the growing list
of laureates such as Gabriel Okara, Ezenwa Ohaeto, Ahmed Yerima, Akachi
Adimora-Ezeigbo,Mabel Segun, Kaine Agary, Esiaba Irobi and Adeyemi Adleke (Mai
Nasara). Omotowa further said Nigeria needed to fall back on her writers and
thinkers so as to lift itself from the morass it found itself
today.

He also noted, “The
prize helps to gradually build a crop of distinguished individuals in whom our
young ones can look up to. it provides the intellectual occupation with the
respect, dignity, even reverence, that it should have. In this regard, many are
convinced that it is the preponderance of thinking citizens that will bring us
to that lofty place where people can ask burning questions of their leaders and
demand urgent answers because they are informed.

“Literacy and numeracy skills are the bedrock of progress and prosperity
in the modern world. The skill of writing helps create a context in which other
people can think… Because of the deep morass Nigeria is in we cannot possibly
get enough of innovative thinkers, writers, philosophers, men and women who
expand the frontiers of knowledge by the sheer depth and range of the questions
and issues that raise. They may not, and indeed do not always, proffer the
solutions, but the questions they raise by their reflections on life, force us
to think a little deeper and point us in the directions where we may not
necessarily have looked.”

On his
part, Anambra State governor Mr. Peter Obi restated the need for Nigeria to
celebrate her intellectual stars in all fields of human endeavours so as to make
the country proud. He said rather than the lunatics that continue to bring the
nation shame that deserve to be placed in asylum, Nigerian stars in the field of
literature, science and other ennobling areas should be singled out and
celebrated for the greater glory of the country and for others to
emulate.

Obi
said celebrating Unigwe’s win amounted to celebrating the unique process of
excellence that the country badly desired but which has long eluded her as a
nation, but which path she must return at once if the country was to achieve any
meaningful development in the foreseeable future. According to Obi, “We are here
to celebrate a process we desire for our country. Chika is that destination we
wish for this country. I’ve told Chika, we’ll work with her to bring about many
Chikas. People like Chika are not known or celebrated today in Nigeria. Today we
celebrate rascality in Nigeria.

“But
we’re looking for people to celebrate. We need to start celebrating the Chikas
of this country. We need to start celebrating our stars. We must get the
lunatics to the asylum”.

Obi
also praised the foremost gas company for establishing the literature and
science prizes and called them beacons for what Nigeria should aspire to be. He
commended Unigwe for also writing a book that has documented things that could
change lives for the better.

The
Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics Prof Isaac Asuzu, who represented the Vice
Chancellor, Prof. Bartho N. Okolo expressed how pleased he was “to celebrate
success, to celebrate achievement, to celebrate art, to celebrate Chika Unigwe.
Success necessarily has many friends. And so, we are gathered here today as
friends of success. But success also has the capacity to inspire. Without a
doubt, many of our students, particularly the female students, have every reason
to be inspired today. Hard work pays. Hard work and excellence are not the
exclusive preserve of one gender only… If Chika Unigwe had believed that this is
a man’s world and that her say or her effort would not matter, she wouldn’t have
been here today as the winner of The Nigerian Prize for Literature for
2012”.

MANY other
individuals spoke glowingly of Unigwe’s win and for the support and leverage the
gas company LNG has provided literary art and sued for more such
support.Chairman, Advisory Board for the prize, Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo the
theme of Unigwe’s novel has great social relevance, with a superb narrative
technique and rich trove of English language. He also said the choice of Nsukka
to honour Unigwe was deliberate as one of the runners-up, Ngozi Achebe is also
alumnus of University of Nigeria like Unigwe. He expressed gratitude to LNG for
the nation of this honour in promoting a process that would spur the desire to
create, innovate on writing and creativity in literature and
science.

Former
Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji also praised Unigwe and the gas company for
doing Nigeria proud by supporting science and literature as ways of developing
the human capital. Head of English Department, Prof. Nicholas Akwanya said
Unigwe was a strong person, saying it wasn’t easy to live in another country and
see one’s countrywomen being traded in sex and not feel ashamed. But that Unigwe
rose above that sentiment and wrote about it in an admirable way that has earned
her accolades.

Akwanya restated a need for the restructuring of the nation’s education
in giving equal value to all disciplines rather than paying attention to science
and technology only because development was a multifaceted process. He praised
LNG for recognising that the arts were important and also deserved attention
through support such the prize. He advocated the setting up of a Centre for
Creative Writing in Nsukka, saying it wasn’t what a department alone could do.
He urged LNG to help the setting up of such centre.

Unigwe’s father, 83, Ochaagha Fred Unigwe, who said how proud he was,
thanked LNG for honouring her daughter; her husband for allowing her to write.
He made Chika out as a gift to the world. Ungwe’s husband, Jan Vandenhoudt, a
Belgian, was full of gratitude for the honour done his wife, and how he met her
in Nsukka campus and fell in love.

Ezigbo
and Nollywood actor Joke Silver also spoke of glowingly of Unigwe. As UN
Ambassador for Trafficking in Persons, Silver expressed gratitude for Unigwe’s
novel in helping to advance her work and hinted the possibility of making it
into a film.

Omotowa made a gift of Unigwe’s book to 36 secondary school students of
the university in attendance and another 14 for the school library.

Not many parents give their children opportunity to be
what they want to become. A lot meddle in the career of their children; some
meddle to the point of imposition, with the result that frustration often
becomes the lot of such children. But not so with the 2012 winner of The
Nigerian Prize for Literature, Chika Unigwe, who won with On Black Sisters’
Street. It’s a work that deals with the obnoxious sex trade as seen from the
perspectives of African women trafficked to Europe for prostitution
purposes.

At the
public presentation on Tuesday
at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, where she studied English,
Unigwe gave validity to young people being given a choice to make intelligent
career choices. Unigwe’s choice of study of English has paid off with US$100,000
firmly in her pocket, as the proud winner of Africa’s biggest literary
prize.

In her
submission, Unigwe told the gathering of academics, politicians, students and
industry captain audience gathered to honour her, “One year, I must have been
about 10, I told my father I wanted to write a book. As far as I was concerned,
writing a book meant typing out all the stories and poems I had collected in my
journal myself. He did not laugh at me. He went and sourced a typewriter for me,
and it is only in hindsight that I appreciate the lengths to which he went to
get that machine….

“I
remember my parents’ praise of my handwork. They were my first audience, they
nurtured my belief. They gave me the gift of faith. They gave me permission to
dream. They led me on the road to discovering the magic of words and claiming
them as mine. For this and for so much more, I am grateful!”

Unigwe
further gave insight to believing in self as first condition to success, saying,
“Winning this prize has taught me that wishes come true. That sometimes when we
speak our wishes into the world, they become real”.

Regrettably Unigwe is not happy that the quality of education Nigeria now
offers her young ones is far from standard, far from what she got while growing
up. This lament she put in the form of appeal to authorities to do something
urgent to redress in practical terms, especially as quality education is a
gateway for opportunities that take young people’s minds from wanting to go into
prostitution like characters in her novel, On Black Sisters’
Street.

As she
noted, “… In the years to come quality education for every Nigerian child should
be a reality. That each school is equipped with a functional library; that many
more of our young women do not end up like the women of On Black Sisters’
Street, forced by lack of opportunities to spend years indebted to pimps,
servicing the sex industry often under very precarious conditions”.

Managing Director of sponsor of the prize, LNG, Mr. Babs Omotowa, praised
Unigwe for winning the prize, saying her victory has earned a deserved place in
Nigerian and African literary space. He said Unigwe has joined the growing list
of laureates such as Gabriel Okara, Ezenwa Ohaeto, Ahmed Yerima, Akachi
Adimora-Ezeigbo,Mabel Segun, Kaine Agary, Esiaba Irobi and Adeyemi Adleke (Mai
Nasara). Omotowa further said Nigeria needed to fall back on her writers and
thinkers so as to lift itself from the morass it found itself
today.

He also noted, “The
prize helps to gradually build a crop of distinguished individuals in whom our
young ones can look up to. it provides the intellectual occupation with the
respect, dignity, even reverence, that it should have. In this regard, many are
convinced that it is the preponderance of thinking citizens that will bring us
to that lofty place where people can ask burning questions of their leaders and
demand urgent answers because they are informed.

“Literacy and numeracy skills are the bedrock of progress and prosperity
in the modern world. The skill of writing helps create a context in which other
people can think… Because of the deep morass Nigeria is in we cannot possibly
get enough of innovative thinkers, writers, philosophers, men and women who
expand the frontiers of knowledge by the sheer depth and range of the questions
and issues that raise. They may not, and indeed do not always, proffer the
solutions, but the questions they raise by their reflections on life, force us
to think a little deeper and point us in the directions where we may not
necessarily have looked.”

On his
part, Anambra State governor Mr. Peter Obi restated the need for Nigeria to
celebrate her intellectual stars in all fields of human endeavours so as to make
the country proud. He said rather than the lunatics that continue to bring the
nation shame that deserve to be placed in asylum, Nigerian stars in the field of
literature, science and other ennobling areas should be singled out and
celebrated for the greater glory of the country and for others to
emulate.

Obi
said celebrating Unigwe’s win amounted to celebrating the unique process of
excellence that the country badly desired but which has long eluded her as a
nation, but which path she must return at once if the country was to achieve any
meaningful development in the foreseeable future. According to Obi, “We are here
to celebrate a process we desire for our country. Chika is that destination we
wish for this country. I’ve told Chika, we’ll work with her to bring about many
Chikas. People like Chika are not known or celebrated today in Nigeria. Today we
celebrate rascality in Nigeria.

“But
we’re looking for people to celebrate. We need to start celebrating the Chikas
of this country. We need to start celebrating our stars. We must get the
lunatics to the asylum”.

Obi
also praised the foremost gas company for establishing the literature and
science prizes and called them beacons for what Nigeria should aspire to be. He
commended Unigwe for also writing a book that has documented things that could
change lives for the better.

The
Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics Prof Isaac Asuzu, who represented the Vice
Chancellor, Prof. Bartho N. Okolo expressed how pleased he was “to celebrate
success, to celebrate achievement, to celebrate art, to celebrate Chika Unigwe.
Success necessarily has many friends. And so, we are gathered here today as
friends of success. But success also has the capacity to inspire. Without a
doubt, many of our students, particularly the female students, have every reason
to be inspired today. Hard work pays. Hard work and excellence are not the
exclusive preserve of one gender only… If Chika Unigwe had believed that this is
a man’s world and that her say or her effort would not matter, she wouldn’t have
been here today as the winner of The Nigerian Prize for Literature for
2012”.

MANY other
individuals spoke glowingly of Unigwe’s win and for the support and leverage the
gas company LNG has provided literary art and sued for more such
support.Chairman, Advisory Board for the prize, Professor Emeritus Ayo Banjo the
theme of Unigwe’s novel has great social relevance, with a superb narrative
technique and rich trove of English language. He also said the choice of Nsukka
to honour Unigwe was deliberate as one of the runners-up, Ngozi Achebe is also
alumnus of University of Nigeria like Unigwe. He expressed gratitude to LNG for
the nation of this honour in promoting a process that would spur the desire to
create, innovate on writing and creativity in literature and
science.

Former
Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji also praised Unigwe and the gas company for
doing Nigeria proud by supporting science and literature as ways of developing
the human capital. Head of English Department, Prof. Nicholas Akwanya said
Unigwe was a strong person, saying it wasn’t easy to live in another country and
see one’s countrywomen being traded in sex and not feel ashamed. But that Unigwe
rose above that sentiment and wrote about it in an admirable way that has earned
her accolades.

Akwanya restated a need for the restructuring of the nation’s education
in giving equal value to all disciplines rather than paying attention to science
and technology only because development was a multifaceted process. He praised
LNG for recognising that the arts were important and also deserved attention
through support such the prize. He advocated the setting up of a Centre for
Creative Writing in Nsukka, saying it wasn’t what a department alone could do.
He urged LNG to help the setting up of such centre.

Unigwe’s father, 83, Ochaagha Fred Unigwe, who said how proud he was,
thanked LNG for honouring her daughter; her husband for allowing her to write.
He made Chika out as a gift to the world. Ungwe’s husband, Jan Vandenhoudt, a
Belgian, was full of gratitude for the honour done his wife, and how he met her
in Nsukka campus and fell in love.

Ezigbo
and Nollywood actor Joke Silver also spoke of glowingly of Unigwe. As UN
Ambassador for Trafficking in Persons, Silver expressed gratitude for Unigwe’s
novel in helping to advance her work and hinted the possibility of making it
into a film.

Omotowa made a gift of Unigwe’s book to 36 secondary school students of
the university in attendance and another 14 for the school library.